A transgender journey + Health & wellbeing | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/series/transgender-journey+health-and-wellbeing
Indexen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015Tue, 31 Mar 2015 21:12:31 GMT2015-03-31T21:12:31Zen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015The Guardianhttp://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.pnghttp://www.theguardian.com
Transgender journey: recovering from surgeryhttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/oct/08/transgender-journey-recovering-from-surgery
After sex reassignment surgery, Juliet Jacques recuperates at home with her parents. An infection delays her recovery, but eventually pain begins to give way to pleasure<p>When I got the date for my sex reassignment surgery, I wasn't so worried about the operation itself (I'd be asleep, right?) as its aftermath: how I was going to look after myself during the two months it would take to recover? I called my parents and immediately my mother offered to take care of me at the family home. I'd never felt so glad or relieved: the <a href="http://www.wlmht.nhs.uk/gi/gender-identity-clinic/">Gender Identity Clinic</a> suggest full-time care for at least the first two weeks, and getting it from my parents (especially my mother, a former district nurse) meant that they would be reassured that I was fine, while I would benefit from rest, relaxation and plenty of home cooking.</p><p>The day after my discharge from Charing Cross Hospital, my father drives me back to Horley, Surrey, where I will convalesce in my old bedroom. As he does so, the post-surgical pain increases dramatically. I try to be stoic: it isn't going away for some time, so I decide to get through the journey, sleep and see how I feel in the morning. Much worse, is the answer: the sight and smell of the neovagina instantly confirms that I've contracted an infection. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/oct/08/transgender-journey-recovering-from-surgery">Continue reading...</a>Health & wellbeingLife and styleTransgenderMon, 08 Oct 2012 12:18:41 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/oct/08/transgender-journey-recovering-from-surgeryRoy Mcmahon/Corbis'Lying down hurts far less than sitting.' Photograph: Roy Mcmahon/CorbisRoy Mcmahon/CorbisWoman in bed in pajamas. Photograph: Roy Mcmahon/CorbisJuliet Jacques2012-10-08T12:18:41ZTransgender journey: time for sex reassignment surgery at lasthttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/aug/30/sex-reassignment-surgery-transgender-journey
The day of the operation has finally arrived. Juliet Jacques recounts the final preparations, the surgery itself and the aftermath<p>Six weeks before sex reassignment surgery (SRS), <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/jan/12/transgender-health-and-wellbeing">I am obliged to stop taking my hormones</a>. I suddenly feel very differently about my forthcoming operation. I'd previously seen transition as a marathon: surgery was like breaking the tape, but the race was won far earlier. Now I reconsider: perhaps this is more like a difficult cup final after some hard previous rounds.</p><p>The surgery completely dominates my planning and thinking. My temporary job ended in March, and the knowledge that I'd be incapacitated for at least two months from mid-July made it difficult to find another. Ineligible for <a href="http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Illorinjured/DG_171894">Employment and Support Allowance</a> until after surgery, I sign on, the whole scenario feeling farcical as both my case worker and I know that I am unlikely to get a job, but still have to fulfil the <a href="http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/documents/digitalasset/dg_200090.html">jobseekers' criteria</a> to get my weekly allowance, haemorrhaging money all the while.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/aug/30/sex-reassignment-surgery-transgender-journey">Continue reading...</a>Health & wellbeingLife and styleTransgenderSocietyThu, 30 Aug 2012 08:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/aug/30/sex-reassignment-surgery-transgender-journeyGregory Wrona/AlamyCharing Cross hospital, London. Photo: Gregory Wrona/AlamyGregory Wrona/AlamyCharing Cross hospital, London. Photograph: Gregory Wrona/AlamyJuliet Jacques2012-08-30T08:00:00ZTransgender journey: facing the reality of surgeryhttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/may/15/transgender-journey-reality-surgery
After a consultation with her gender reassignment surgeon, the reality of impending surgery dawns on Juliet Jacques. Is she doing the right thing?<p>I'm finally moving towards the second major stage of the gender reassignment pathway – surgery.</p><p>I asked myself: &quot;Is this still what you want to do?&quot; I'd never <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/feb/23/gender-reassignment-transgender-journey">regretted</a> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jun/30/living-as-a-woman">coming out as transsexual</a> or <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/jan/12/transgender-health-and-wellbeing">starting hormone therapy</a>, but both were reversible (at least to a point). This, less so. Some people live full-time in their desired gender without pursuing surgery, but I felt as certain as ever that it was the right course for me. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/may/15/transgender-journey-reality-surgery">Continue reading...</a>TransgenderLife and styleSocietyHealth & wellbeingTue, 15 May 2012 09:03:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/may/15/transgender-journey-reality-surgeryOJO Images/Rex FeaturesWould proximity to surgery cause Juliet to have doubts? Photo: OJO Images/RexOJO Images/Rex FeaturesSurgeon in an operating room. Photograph: OJO Images/Rex FeaturesJuliet Jacques2012-05-15T09:03:00ZA transgender journey: Are you experienced?http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jan/23/transgender-real-life-experience
Juliet Jacques reports on the 'Real Life Experience' living as a woman required by medical professionals before she can set a date for gender reassignment surgery<br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/series/transgender-journey"><br />Click here to read the rest of Juliet's transgender journey</a><p>&quot;You won't see us again until after the operation&quot; says my secondary clinician at the <a href="http://www.wlmht.nhs.uk/gi/gender-identity-clinic/">West London Mental Health Trust Gender Identity Clinic</a>, supporting my main therapist's recommendation that I be referred for surgery. The questions – about whether I've made the right decision, about how family, friends and colleagues have reacted to my coming out and how I've dealt with transphobia – are over. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jun/30/living-as-a-woman">Having lived </a>and <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/aug/25/transsexual-people-sex-work">worked as female</a> for two years, I've finally completed the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-life_experience#Real-Life_Experience">Real Life Experience</a> or, if you prefer, passed the Real Life Test (as it's also been known).<br /> <br />I thought I'd be jubilant, but leaving, I feel strangely indifferent. Perhaps this is because the referral represents a strange mid-point: I addressed the RLE's main challenges and became comfortable with my new reality so long ago that it seems surreal to link this official end to the (sometimes fraught) process of managing my social interactions; but 27 months after entering the pathway, I neither have a date for surgery nor any idea when I'll get one.</p><p>Before my first GIC appointment, I'd suspected that the RLE would constitute a box-ticking exercise, and began asking transsexual friends what boxes there were and how I could ensure they were ticked fastest. In practice, this involved little more than <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/aug/11/become-a-woman-juliet">changing my name by deed poll</a> and getting proof of when I starting working as female so my Test could begin from the date I provided.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jan/23/transgender-real-life-experience">Continue reading...</a>Life and styleHealth & wellbeingMon, 23 Jan 2012 07:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jan/23/transgender-real-life-experiencePhotonicaWatercooler conversations at work: evidence of Real Life Experience? Photograph: PhotonicaPhotonicaTwo women chat around a watercooler. Photograph: PhotonicaJuliet Jacques2012-01-23T07:00:00ZA transgender journey: 'Finally, slowly, my body was catching up with my mind.http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/jan/12/transgender-health-and-wellbeing
For Juliet Jacques, beginning hormone replacement therapy is a vital step towards her goal. But what will it feel like to go through a second puberty?<p>Two months after <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/dec/01/transgender-mental-health">my second visit to the Gender Identity Clinic</a>, I made an appointment with my GP. Having <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/dec/14/transgender-freezing-sperm">decided against saving sperm</a>, I was finally arranging my hormone prescription, which the clinic had sent to my surgery.</p><p>At least, I assumed they had – I'd seen no confirmation. After a second summer trying to '<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/28/passing-as-a-woman">pass</a>', struggling with the increased scrutiny that comes with wearing less (especially with the heat ruining my hair and makeup), I was keen to start my <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormone_replacement_therapy_%28male-to-female%29">hormone replacement therapy</a>, knowing that this would be a vital step towards my goal. The GIC had asked what I anticipated: some facial feminisation, hip growth and breast development, I said, having researched the physical effects on transsexual women (which are similar to those for pubertal cisgender women). The psychological consequences, I said, remained to be seen.</p><p>Juliet: Can I have my hormones please?<br />Pharmacist: Yes.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/jan/12/transgender-health-and-wellbeing">Continue reading...</a>Life and styleTransgenderHealth & wellbeingWed, 12 Jan 2011 10:59:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/jan/12/transgender-health-and-wellbeingPRJuliet's hormone prescription came with advice for those going through the menopause, but made no mention of transsexual women.PRHRT tablets in packet (Hormone Replacement Therapy), close-upJuliet Jacques2011-01-12T10:59:00Z'I'd hoped that coming out might temper my anxiety'http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/05/transgender-journey-depression
Gender reassignment can take its toll on the mental health of vulnerable individuals. Juliet Jacques considers her own relationship with depression and anxiety<p>I've suffered from <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/anxiety/Pages/Introduction.aspx">anxiety</a> and <a href="http://www.depression.com/">depression</a> since the age of 10 – around the same time that I <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jun/02/transgender-journey">realised I was transgendered</a>. I've spent nearly two decades trying to understand the relationship between the two. As I <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/22/transgender-charing-cross">explained in my last blog</a>, the <a href="http://www.who.int/en/">World Health Organisation</a> classifies <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/gender-dysphoria/Pages/Introduction.aspx">gender dysphoria</a> as a mental illness, and in Britain, transsexuality is treated through mental health services. But our complex relationships with our psychologies begin long before we enter the gender reassignment pathway and fret about whether or not the gatekeepers will judge us mentally fit to transition.</p><p>The second I recognised my gender dissonance, I knew my life would become harder. At school, I was terrified of those close to me disowning me if it became public knowledge (let alone what those who weren't might do). This fear grew largely from internalising media reports that presented transsexual people as misunderstood social pariahs – at best. I knew no transsexual people, and, pre-internet, I didn't know where I might find any, or hear their perspectives on life. In <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jul/02/david-cameron-gay-pride-apology">Section 28 era Britain</a>, sexual or gender difference wasn't seriously discussed in the classroom, so I had no outlet – except, maybe, my friends. The only time we saw someone transgendered, they pointed and laughed at her. I kept silent.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/05/transgender-journey-depression">Continue reading...</a>Life and styleTransgenderHealth & wellbeingWed, 06 Oct 2010 10:31:08 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/05/transgender-journey-depressionAndrew Paterson/Alamy'At least my every use of a public toilet had not become fractious'. Photograph: Andrew Paterson/AlamyAndrew Paterson/AlamyLadies toilet door sign
Photograph: Andrew Paterson/AlamyJuliet Jacques2010-10-06T10:31:08Z